The Eternal Wisdom of the Sages of India is stored up
in the Upanishads. These Upanishads have been a source of great inspiration to
the great philosophers, Acharyas and seekers of Truth, not only in India, but
all over the world.

From time to time, the truths of the Upanishads have
been re-interpreted by sages and saints, to suit the time and the spiritual
evolution of the people of their generation.

Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has given not only his
illuminating commentary on the Principal Upanishads, but also the highly
interesting "Upanishad Drama," "Dialogues from the Upanishads," "Upanishads for
Busy People" and "Ten Upanishads." This "Essence" is a valuable addition to the
others.

God is Sat (Truth)
God is Chit (Consciousness)
God is Ananda (Bliss)
God is Wisdom (Jnana)
God is Infinite (Anantam)
God is Prem
God is Love
Goal of Life
Is Self-realisation
Attain this
Through Japa-Kirtan
Through Meditation
Practise Ahimsa
Satyam, Brahmacharya
Cultivate Viveka, Vairagya
Develop Shat-Sampat
Have burning aspiration
Approach the Guru
With faith, devotion
Practise Sravana, Manana
Nididhyasana
Get up at 4 a.m.
Meditate regularly
Introspect daily
Analyse your mind
Understand the lurking evils
Don’t be duped
That you have attained Perfection
After a little study
Perfection is
Extremely difficult
Remove defects
By cultivation of virtues
Kill lust, anger
Pride and greed
Slander not
Harm not
Grieve not
Despair not
Nil desperandum
Fear not
Tarry not
Don’t smoke
Don’t drink
Don’t utter falsehood
Don’t utter vulgar words
Harsh words
Don’t cheat
Don’t pose
As a Jivanmukta
Jivanmukti is far away
It is a great thing
Even if you develop two virtues
In this birth
Work is worship
Nishkama-Karma
Will not bind you
Get God’s Grace
Through Upasana
Practise Yoga of Synthesis
This is Yoga for Modern Man
It is the Yoga of the Upanishads
Have self-purification
Through service, charity
Pranayama, Sadvichara
Meditate and Realise
Prajnanam Brahma
Tat Tvam Asi
Aham Brahmasmi
Ayam Atma Brahma
Consciousness is Brahman
That Thou Art
I am Brahman
This Atman is Brahman
Realise this
And roam about freely
Without fear or grief
As Jivanmukta, sage
God bless you

13. This Atman is motionless, but swifter than the
mind; because it is all-pervading and all-full.

14. Before the mind reaches a plane, the Atman is
already there, as it is all-pervading and infinite.

15. The Atman is distant and it is near. It is within
all this, and also outside all this.

16. It is distant for the ignorant. It is very far for
those who are immersed in worldliness. It is very near for the enquirer, for him
who is equipped with purity of mind and the four means of salvation.

17. The Atman is very subtle. It is Antaratma, the
inner self of all beings. It fills and covers everything. It is all-full. Hence
it is within and without.

18. The Atman is the substratum or support
(Adhishthana) of all beings.

19. The sage sees all beings in the Atman and the
Atman in all beings.

20. He who sees the Atman as pervading everything, and
everything in the Atman, does not wish to guard himself, because he has no fear
from anyone.

21. A sage who has realised the Atman beholds that all
objects and all beings are not distant from his own Self and that his Atman is
the Atman of all.

22. The Atman is the common consciousness in all
beings.

23. The Atman is the same in the king and the peasant,
the saint and the sinner, the cobbler and the barber, the ant and the elephant,
the tree and the stone.

24. How can that freed soul who rests in his own Atman
and who has an exalted cosmic consciousness shrink from any being or object with
a feeling of repulsion? How can he dislike anything? How can he hate anything?

25. Mere intellectual assent that the one Self abides
in all beings will not do. Actual Self-realisation or direct perception,
Aparoksha-Anubhava is indispensably requisite.

26. The knower of Brahman becomes fearless. The knower
of Brahman transcends delusion and sorrow.

27. The three knots of the heart
(Hridaya-granthi),—Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) are torn
asunder by the knowledge of Brahman. The knower becomes absolutely free.

28. A knower always rejoices in the bliss of the
Atman. Even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake him a bit.

29. This Atman is all-pervading, bright bodiless,
pure, untouched by sin or evil actions, omniscient, transcendent, self-sprung or
self-existent. It is scatheless and without muscles.

30. This Atman is without the physical body, astral
body and causal body.

31. The Atman is independent. It never depends on
another.

32. The Atman is beyond the reach of the senses and
the mind.

33. The Atman is the Mind of the mind, Ear of the ear.

34. Behind the breath, the senses and the mind, there
is the supreme Brahman or the Absolute.

35. By the light of Brahman alone do the mind, the
Prana and the senses function.

36. When Karma is done without expectation of fruits,
it purifies the mind and generates in the aspirant a strong desire for the final
emancipation.

37. The desire to know Brahman and attain freedom from
births and deaths can arise only in the person who is endowed with a pure and
calm mind, who is desireless and who is disgusted with the sensual objects of
this illusory world.

38. Brahman cannot be attained by mere logical
discussion.

39. The Srutis say: "In order to know Brahman, let the
aspirant approach, with sacrificial sticks (Samit) in hand, a preceptor who is
well-versed in the Vedas and who is centred in Brahman."

40. The Srutis say: "He knows, who has studied under a
preceptor."

41. Only that knowledge which is acquired by studying
under a preceptor does good.

42. When one attains knowledge of Brahman, Avidya or
ignorance which is the seat of bondage and the cause of Karma performed for the
attainment of objects of desire, is totally destroyed.

43. The Srutis say: "There is neither sorrow nor
delusion for the knower of the Self, who beholds the one Atman everywhere. He
who knows the Atman goes beyond sorrow."

44. Moksha cannot be attained by Karma or knowledge
combined with Karma. Jnana alone can confer Moksha. Karma purifies the mind and
helps the aspirant to attain knowledge.

45. The performance of Karma will take one to the
world of manes (Pitriloka); but it cannot make one immortal.

46. Brahman, the only real entity, cannot be attained
by any other means than the removal of ignorance through knowledge of the Self.

47. When one attains the supreme Brahman which is
unborn, unchangeable, birthless, undecaying, immortal, fearless, eternal,
self-luminous, all-blissful, and all-pervading,—one is freed from births and
deaths.

48. Para-Brahman or the Absolute controls and guides
the mind, life (Prana) and the senses.

49. Brahman is the ear of the ear, the mind of the
mind, the tongue of the tongue, the speech of speech, the life of life, and the
eye of the eye.

50. Having abandoned the sense of I-ness in these, and
rising above sense-life, the wise becomes immortal.